Handling baby chicks

[ajdegroat417]

My family raised baby chicks when I was a child, but this is our first time raising them on our own! We have 10 black sexlinks and I want them to be use to us, but I was told that handling them too much could kill them. Is this true?

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

Only if you squish or drop them. Handling gently is always a good thing so they aren't so terrified of you.

 

[azygous]

Good grief, the things people contrive to scare one another! Who ever told you that should watch a video of a chick-sorting station in a hatchery. Somehow just-hatched chicks get tumbled down conveyor belts where a sorter tosses them into sorting bins, and none of them die from it.

Most of us have handled our new baby chicks extensively, if a lot more gently than hatchery staff. Chicks are much more durable than they appear, and they enjoy being handled as much as we enjoy handling them. Frequent handling will help assure people tolerant chickens.

 

[donrae]

Handling your birds is fine, but you need to use common sense.

Baby chicks need to be warm quite a bit of the time. You can't hold a new chick loosely on your lap for 6 hours and expect it to be fine. It's going to get too cold, plus they need to eat and drink more often than that.

But picking each bird up a few times a day and spending a little while getting to know each other is fine.

 

[drumstick diva]

Kids need to be supervised. They should sit on the floor with chicks. Chicks are fast and make sudden moves and tend to get dropped from a height and go splat. Or kids/adults walk around them and step on them - not a good thing. I remember one bycer was aghast to witness neighbor kids throwing her chicks in the air to see them fly. They didn't- ever!

 

[WildCochinReba]

Kids need to be supervised.  They should sit on the floor with chicks.  Chicks are fast and make sudden moves and tend to get dropped from a height and go splat. Or kids/adults walk around them and step on them - not a good thing.  I remember one bycer  was aghast to witness neighbor kids throwing her chicks in the air to see them fly.  They didn't- ever!

That's so awful!

Why didn't anyone stop the kid?

 

[donrae]

That's so awful!

Why didn't anyone stop the kid?

Cause they were probably too busy getting in on their camera to post on FB.

 

[ajdegroat417]

Thank you everyone!

 

[feonaleejones]

The other day I had a nine-year-old handle my 2 chicks for what seemed like an hour and the next day one of my Bantam silkies looked very weak. I would not recommend having children hold the chicks unless they are supervised. It is the second day of the girl handling the chick and it seems to be doing a little better but I'm still worried that it was over handled and held too tightly. Wish I would've spoke up about it because I thought the chicks could handle it but now I think that they are a lot more fragile than we think they are especially the bantams. The girl that held the chicken was holding them under the wings and I think that was not good on the baby chick. Today she seems to be sitting a lot more and when she falls over she has trouble getting back up The girl that held the chicken was holding them under the wings and I think that was not good on the baby chick. Today she seems to be sitting a lot more and when she falls over she has trouble getting back up. I don't want to lose her so I am doing my best to keep an eye out for her and make sure she is eating and drinking but she seems to be sleeping a lot.

 

[ChickenMomma14]

The other day I had a nine-year-old handle my 2 chicks for what seemed like an hour and the next day one of my Bantam silkies looked very weak. I would not recommend having children hold the chicks unless they are supervised. It is the second day of the girl handling the chick and it seems to be doing a little better but I'm still worried that it was over handled and held too tightly. Wish I would've spoke up about it because I thought the chicks could handle it but now I think that they are a lot more fragile than we think they are especially the bantams. The girl that held the chicken was holding them under the wings and I think that was not good on the baby chick. Today she seems to be sitting a lot more and when she falls over she has trouble getting back up The girl that held the chicken was holding them under the wings and I think that was not good on the baby chick. Today she seems to be sitting a lot more and when she falls over she has trouble getting back up. I don't want to lose her so I am doing my best to keep an eye out for her and make sure she is eating and drinking but she seems to be sleeping a lot.

The girl who handled her may have broken a wing or 2 from the sound of it the chicks are still very little.
The chickens may have gotten to cold or dehydrated to